NECESSITY
While David Bond and Dallas were taking Shadrach from the pung, a boot
crunched the snow behind them. They turned. And there was Lounsbury,
fairly bursting to tell his good news.
When he had told it, he was anxious to get away again, for by a quick
retreat the two girls might be saved the knowledge of the Clark episode,
and he, a very probable second insult. But the evangelist, having no
wish to tattle about Lancaster, yet hoping that the elder girl would
learn what her father had done and administer a deserved rebuke, urged
him in.
The storekeeper did not consent to enter the shack, however, until
Dallas added her invitation; and then he went reluctantly. He was
accustomed to courtesy there on the frontier. The plains-bred men that
he knew instinctively took him at his real valuation, and treated him
accordingly; the men of a more conventional strata (the professional men
of Bismarck, and those who officered at the posts up and down the river)
freely bestowed their friendship upon him; the lawless element respected
him, too, and showed that respect by letting him severely alone. He
shrank from placing himself where a man like Lancaster--crippled, old,
and therefore beyond disciplining--could have the chance to repeat an
affront. And he shrank at the thought of a clash--it meant pain for two
helpless women. Nevertheless, he yielded.
The streamers were gone from the sky by then. They had faded as quickly
as they had come. Once more, under a dome of cobalt, the river flowed
black between its fringe of trees, and the prairie stretched white and
still.
A bright fire and a singing coffee-pail welcomed the three as the door
swung wide, and the section-boss, who was urging Marylyn to "rustle some
grub," turned with a testy word. But he fell silent when he saw
Lounsbury, and edged into the dusky shelter of the hearth-side.
The storekeeper nodded to him, shook hands absently with the younger
girl, and took a bench. His face looked less full than usual, and was
lighted by no hearty smiles.
Little was said until breakfast was ready--a quick breakfast of bacon,
pone, and coffee. The three men warmed themselves. The girls moved
between fireplace and table. But when the plates were set and the coffee
poured, David Bond asked for the story of Matthews' doings, of the
affair at the saloon, the meeting with Colonel Cummings, and the
council. Dallas and Marylyn heard it from where they stood together
before the blaze. Lancaster heard it,--though he pretended not
to,--eating and drinking the while with angry smacks.
Lounsbury paid no attention to the section-boss. In fact, before his
recital was done, he had forgotten him. He talked quietly and without
boasting, his face now turned to David Bond, now to the girls.
"And you think," said the evangelist, when the story was finished, "you
think that Matthews will drop his claim to the Bend?"
Lounsbury arose, as if to go, and for the first time since his entrance
looked squarely at Lancaster. "This is what I think:" he answered, "in
Dakota, if a man jumps land that hasn't been improved, all he's got to
do is to hang on to it; don't have to rassle with any fine points of
law. This far west of stuffed chairs, there's a whole lot in public
sentiment." He crossed the room and picked up coat and cap.
"Of course," added David Bond, "following the law would strengthen the
case."
"Of course."
The section-boss adjusted his crutches and stood up. "You-all seem t' be
settlin' it 'thout any o' my lip," he said, and laughed mockingly.
"We have your interests at heart," replied the storekeeper.
Lancaster ground his teeth. Now that all danger was past, he felt no
gratitude for the routing of Matthews and the strategy at The Trooper's
Delight. He could only feel that his authority in his own home was
threatened. He turned his back.
Lounsbury glanced at the girls. They were watching their father
appealingly.
"I _should_ say," went on Lounsbury, "that we have the interests of your
daughters at heart." His hand reached for the latch.
"Mr. Lounsbury!" Dallas made a swift step toward him.
Now, the section-boss came about. Lounsbury was reminded of the day on
the plowed strip. For he saw that Lancaster was all a-tremble, and
panting as if spent with a hard run. "M' gal!" he cried sternly.
Dallas stepped back and touched her father's arm. And her remonstrance
was the remonstrance of that other day. "No, no, dad," she cautioned in
a low voice; "no, no."
Lancaster's breast heaved. He swallowed with an effort, and scowled from
one to another of the four.
David Bond came forward, addressing Lounsbury. "Will you tell me your
name?" he asked. "I want to remember you. You are not a soldier. Do you
belong at Clark's----"
"Did y' size him up fer a cow-punch?" broke in Lancaster. "Huh! Wal,
_Ah_ never did."
Lounsbury's face dyed to a deep scarlet. "No?" he said. "And why?"
Again the section-boss gave a shrill, mocking laugh. "Too fat an' too
mouthy," he answered.
For an instant Lounsbury wavered. In that instant the deep scarlet
faded, his eyes opened, his nostrils spread.
"Pa! pa!" It was Marylyn, half-weeping.
Lounsbury's cool voice cleared the air. "I'm a Bismarck man," he said to
the evangelist. "I've got a store there. My name is John Lounsbury." He
held out his hand to Dallas.
She advanced again and took it. "Oh, thank you! thank you!" she
breathed.
"'Bismarck man.'" It was Lancaster once more. "Wal, w'y the devil don'
y' stay thar?"
Lounsbury took no notice of him. "I'll be hoofing it," he said to
Dallas. "But if I can do anything--you understand." And went out.
David Bond's keen eyes studied the elder girl. He expected an outburst
of anger and blame. He was surprised when, without speaking, she brought
the benches to the fire and set about clearing the table. Lancaster
seated himself and sucked moodily at his pipe. Marylyn flitted behind
him, to disappear through the swinging blankets. The evangelist walked
up and down.
It was not long before the silence told on the section-boss and forced
him to talk. "Ef you-all got anythin' t' say," he snarled presently, "y'
might as well spit it out."
No one answered.
"_Ah_ got jes' _this_ t' say:" he continued, "Ah ain't goin' t' hev no
lubber o' a storekeep slaverin' aroun' my gals!"
Again no one answered. But David Bond, as he watched Dallas
questioningly, determined to be silent no longer. He paused in his walk.
"My friend," he said solemnly, "you talk like a madman. For shame!"
Dallas stood stock still, her eyes warning him. But it was too late.
Her father snickered, drew on his pipe once or twice, and then grinned
up at the evangelist. "It's gittin' light outdoors," he said
significantly. "Ah reckon y' could cross th' river."
And so David Bond and the white horse went the way of Lounsbury.
Nearly an hour passed before the section-boss addressed Dallas. "Wal?
wal? wal?"
She was wrapping up to do the morning chores. "Just as well, I guess,
dad," she said wearily. "The meal and bacon's pretty low. I've been
cooking out of the seed-sacks lately."
"Th' meal an' bacon's got t' las'," he answered. "Use th' seed ef y'
want t', an' don' give thet Injun so much. We shan't ast tick o' no
lallygaggin', do-a-grapevine-twist dandy."
Dallas sighed, found Marylyn to kiss her, and gratefully breasted the
chill air beyond the door.
His dismissal from the shack brought no hardship upon David Bond. He
found an old acquaintance in Colonel Cummings, who joyfully greeted him
as interpreter in the absence of Matthews. He found familiar faces among
the hostages, whose sullen reserve in his presence he laid to their
imprisonment. At barracks, the enlisted men chaffed him mischievously,
christened him "Methuselah," and installed him as "official doom sealer"
of the post. But when he passed them by to give every hour of his days
and nights to young Jamieson--young Jamieson, battling with all his
might against collapse--the men ceased chaffing, and listened to him
with respect. A crank on religion was one thing, a man with one eye on
the Bible and his sleeves rolled up for hard duty was another. The
troopers cared little for sermonising, but they honoured service. Then,
it was Jamieson for whom the evangelist was caring. And Jamieson held
the very heartstrings of the garrison.
As for Lounsbury, Brannon entertained him no less gladly. His was the
rare good-humour that enlivens every occasion. He practised at
target-shooting with the enlisted men; he played billiards with the
officers; he dined; made up sleigh rides; lent himself to theatricals;
furnished a fourth at cards, and, at the frequent dances, led out
homely and pretty alike.
To David Bond it seemed as if the storekeeper were indifferent to his
own dismissal from the shack. But one morning the evangelist
accidentally came upon the younger man. He was watching the Bend through
a telescope, and his face was anxious and troubled.
"Lancaster hasn't started for the land-office again," he said. Then,
after a moment's silence, "I've just about decided to go Bismarck-way
myself to-day. When you can, will you let me know how they are over
there?"
"Charles will keep me posted," answered the evangelist, "and I shall
send you any news by the mail sleigh."
"Thank you," said Lounsbury, simply. "Good-by." And at the noon mess he
was missing.
At the shack, the days were numbered slowly, for all their scant hours
of light. Sleep consumed most of the time. The rest was taken by the
meals, the chores and the effort of keeping warm. The line of
calico-covered books helped to vary the monotony. So did the visits of
Squaw Charley. But these were becoming more brief now. Not that
Lancaster made them unpleasant--Charley was necessary to him--but that
the Indian was always in a fever to be gone. Since the council, his eyes
were less downcast, his face was less stolid.
One day brought a totally unexpected visitor, whom Lancaster recognised
with some misgivings as the United States land-agent at Bismarck. The
section-boss was soon reassured, however. The agent said that, having
business near Brannon, and remembering that Lancaster wished to file an
entry on the bend when the first claimant's six months were up, he had
come by. In the case of a man who was hurt, he said, the law allowed
such a course. The section-boss, thus saved the arduous trip, signed the
necessary papers with a jubilant mark.
Then came Old Michael for a time or two. It seemed at first as if he
were to be a favourite. He could adapt himself with all the art of his
race. And before Lancaster he was intensely Southern in his views,
whipping the North in many a broguey strife. Until--it befell through a
slip of the tongue--a slip that sent him packing off. For he boasted
how, in '62, his freckled hands had helped in piloting the Federals to
Island Number 10!
It was an outcome that gave Dallas little concern. Marylyn was her
worry. The younger girl was listless, pale and moody. Now and then,
Dallas believed she saw a look of actual suffering in her eyes. Once,
awakening in the night, she heard her sob.
Marylyn was unhappy, and the thought made the elder girl desperate. This
led her to a plan: Lounsbury must be asked to forgive their father and
come again--must be told of Marylyn's confession!
Soon afterward a second worry presented itself, one fully as serious.
The provisions were dwindling, the seed-sacks shrinking fast, and,
estranged from Lounsbury, they had nowhere to ask credit but at the
Fort.
When Dallas spoke of it to her father, he chuckled. "Wal, we got Simon,
ain't we?" he said.
That same night, Marylyn put down her fork and stared across the table
at her sister. "Why, Dallas, you don't eat!" she complained.
Dallas laughed. "I don't work, honey," she answered.
The question of fuel entered next, and became a grave one. So far, the
weather had been fairly mild for the place and the season. Now, it took
a more rigorous turn. The bitter cold was intensified by a stiff wind.
Snow began to fall, and the wind, growing, drove the flakes level, so
that they cut the face like filings of steel. Charley's trips became
uncertain, then impossible. The work of getting out hay for the stock
was a desperate tax. It was so difficult that Dallas dared not spare a
straw for the fireplace, and Ben and Betty's manger had to be drawn upon
for wood. When this source of supply failed, the benches were sacrificed
one by one, the cupboard was torn down, and the bunk and part of the
table were split into kindling.
The family slept shoulder to shoulder before the hearth, with the
brave-coloured blankets of the partition for extra covering. Lancaster
and the younger girl stayed in bed all of the twenty-four hours. Dallas
got up only long enough to tend the animals and prepare food. But a day
came when she could not make her way to the lean-to, and when the warped
door could not be opened in the teeth of the raging storm. Toward noon,
she cooked some food, however. The seed sacks were empty; there was no
rice and no flour. While the blizzard howled without, and Simon and the
mules called pitifully for their fodder and drink, she broke up what was
left of the table. Over its blaze the last smitch of bacon went to
savour the last pint of beans.
After the meal Dallas read aloud. Lying down, she held her book in one
hand until her fingers were blue with cold, then changed to the other.
Father and sister drowsed, and she put the story aside to study over the
predicament in which she felt herself at fault. Counting on blizzards,
but knowing nothing of their duration, she had determined to say little
about their needs until those needs pressed. When, she knew, her father
would see their extremity. The extremity had come. Yet, willing or
unwilling, Lancaster was cut off from seeking help.
That day closed in fearful cold. The wind was become a furious gale.
Sturdily, the log house withstood it. Only the roof seemed threatened.
With each great blast, it lifted a little, as if on the point of
whirling away. But when darkness came, even the roof settled into quiet.
For the drifts that had been piling up gradually to the north and west
of the shack, sealing the windows and the door, had risen to the grassy
eaves and overflowed them, and so weighted the thatch.
Next morning, long before Marylyn and her father wakened, Dallas roused.
The room was in dusk, and its air was so cold that it seemed fairly to
singe the skin. She could not read. Presently, Marylyn turned. The elder
girl hastened to soothe her. Then, their father yawned. Dallas feigned
sleep.
But the evil moment could not be put off. Lancaster propped himself on
an elbow and called to her. He was hungry.
Very quietly, Dallas told him that there was no food.
He grunted, arose and lighted the lantern. "You dish thet snow on th'
floor," he commanded. "We'll need it fer drink."
"What're _you_ going to do?" she asked, hastening to obey. Her voice was
lowered apprehensively.
He was wrapping some clothes over his shoes. "Butcher Simon," he said
curtly.
Her face became a white spot in the gloom.
"Critter'll be tough, like's not," went on her father. "But y' c'n poun'
th' meat."
After a long wait, she spoke. "You can't reach him," she declared, half
triumphantly.
"Yas, Ah c'n," he answered. "Ah c'n chop through with th' hatchet." He
was between the fireplace and a corner, feeling over the logs with his
hands.
She ran to him. "Oh, how can you think of it?" she demanded huskily.
"Simon's so friendly and--came to us for a home. How can you kill him!
Maybe _you_ could eat him, but _I_ couldn't. It'd just choke me!"
"Oh, ain't we sof'!" sneered her father. He was fumbling about near the
bunk, as if hunting something. "Mebbe y' 'd like Ah should kill a mule!
Ha! ha! No mule-meat fer _me_. Ah'll give thet bull a tunk 'tween th'
eyes, an' we'll hev steak."
She stood in the dim light, one arm crooked up to cover her face.
Presently, Marylyn moaned; then, Dallas lowered her arm and looked down
at her sister. "One of the mules _would_ be easier," she said bitterly.
But remembering the brown eyes of the team, and the long, grey-whiskered
noses, she covered her face again.
"Ah don' keer w'at y' say," declared her father. "We'll hev steak." He
selected a log and began to hack at it.
Shuddering, she sank to her knees, one hand reached out to touch
Marylyn. "Maybe Charley'll come, honey," she whispered hopefully.
"Maybe, maybe!"
And now it seemed as if she heard something outside. She crept to the
door. Around the latch was a little space. She put her ear to it, and
the icy air blew against her cheek. There it was again! The shriek of
the gale.
She went back to the bed.
_Hack!_ _hack!_ _hack!_ Then muttered curses. And again the sound of
chopping.
When she could bear it no longer, she got up and stumbled over to her
father. "_Dad_," she said, "if I break up the mantel and fix something,
will you stop?"
He sat back on his feet, puffing crossly. "Light a fire," he said. "Use
these chips. Ah'll res'." He threw down the hatchet and crawled under
the blankets. He was glad of the interruption, for the duty ahead was
assuming an ugly guise.
Dallas had filled the coffee-pail with snow. Now, she gathered up the
chips, lit them, and pried up the wide board of the mantel. This she
split with the hatchet.
"What you going to make?" asked Marylyn, from the bed.
"Pepper-tea, honey. It'll warm you up."
"Oh, I'm glad. Ma made some once."
Pepper-tea it was. When the snow had melted and the water was boiling
hot, Dallas added pepper and salt. Then she spread a cloth and turned
the wheat and corn sacks out upon it. She got a handful of flour. With
this she thickened the water. Three cups were setting upon the floor.
She took the coffee-pail over, poured into two, and handed them to her
father and Marylyn.
"Don't spill a drop," she cautioned.
"You got some?" queried Marylyn, sitting up.
Dallas went back to the other cup. "Well, what do you think I'm doing?"
she asked, and lifted it to her lips.
Soon, the three were lying shoulder to shoulder again, the section-boss
drawing a little added comfort from his pipe. Before long, he was
asleep; Marylyn, too. When Dallas got up cautiously and brewed a cup of
peppered water for herself. The hot draught relieved the pangs of her
hunger. She lay down again.
Hours later, she was awakened by hearing faint squeals directly
overhead. Hastily, she lit the lantern and took down the Sharps; then,
stepped directly under the sounds and poked the rifle's muzzle into the
hay of the roof. Above, storm-driven and crowding one another against
the stones of the chimney, were some pigs!
In her eagerness, she trembled so violently that she became unsteady on
her feet. It lost her the opportunity of firing. For, as she waited,
trying to get a blind aim, the squeals suddenly died out. The pigs had
gone over toward the edge of the lean-to.
When next she awoke,--awoke from a dream of well-spread tables, she
could not guess how much time had passed, or whether it was day or
night. The shack was pitch dark. Of one thing she could be sure: The
storm had not abated, so there was no hope of aid.
She knew something must be done. Simon and the team wrung her heart with
their pleas. Beside her, Marylyn was turning with fretful complaints.
The younger girl rolled her head from side to side constantly, and
moistened her lips. Dallas chopped up the rifle rack and made a fire of
it; then plied Marylyn with more of the pepper-tea. The section-boss
refused to partake. The first cup, he said, had burned him. Tobacco was
better solace.
Dallas did not taste the tea, either. A fearful nausea beset her. Her
heart went like a trip-hammer. She wrapped up, turning her back to the
blaze. Oddly enough her father did not make a second attack on the log.
His perique went far toward helping him fight the gnawing of hunger. He
could afford, having to endure little pain, to let the hours bring
Dallas to the point where she would ask the life of the bull. He knew
where she was most vulnerable. When Marylyn turned from the tea that now
partially eased her hunger, and began a demand for food, Simon would
die.
It came sooner than the section-boss expected. His lethargic sleep was
broken by Dallas' shaking him. As he opened his eyes, she thrust the
hatchet into his hands.
"Dad," she said hurriedly. "Get up. You got to do it. For Marylyn--for
Marylyn."
To him, it was a real victory. He wrenched a quid from his tobacco-slab,
grasped the hatchet handle and arose. Dallas had lighted the lantern
once more. Now she pinned one of the smaller blankets over his
shoulders. When he put on his hat and knelt before the chopped-out place
in the east wall, she wrapped a second blanket about his feet and legs.
"Go 'long, go 'long," he said, not unkindly. "Keep you'self warm." Then
the _hack_, _hack_, _hack_ began again.
She did not watch him, but donned the long cloak over her jersey, kissed
Marylyn and paced up and down the shack. For every step there was a blow
of the hatchet.
"Poor Simon! Poor Simon!" she whispered to herself. The bull was lowing
again.
At last the sound of the hatchet became unbearable. She gave a quick
glance around the room, then, crossing to her father, pulled at his
arm. "If you kill Simon, there's no wood to do any cooking," she said.
"Better wait, dad--hour or two, _please_!"
He twisted from under her hand, and scowled up. "Shucks!" he answered.
"Here's chips 'nough fer a fire." And swung the hatchet with fresh zeal.
She lingered a moment, smiling grimly. It was only a play for time. She
knew very well that there would be timber when her father reached
Simon's stall.
Lancaster was making fast progress. The log upon which he worked was dry
from the heat of the hearth. It splintered like weathered pine. A
section of it was soon cut away so far that a final blow with the
hatchet head drove it in. It rolled to the noses of the mules. Lancaster
thrust his head through the hole.
Between the scantlings that penned Simon into his part of the lean-to,
the section-boss spied two glowing eyes. They watched him, then the
door, then him again. "_M-m-m-m!_" came a deep protest, as the bull blew
and pawed at the dirt floor.
The section-boss drew back nervously. "Simon's actin' funny," he said.
"He's locoed, or he's smelt a mice."
He got no answer. Dallas was in the corner farthest from him, crowded
against the logs. Her arms were raised. Her head rested between them.
Lancaster grunted disgustedly, and fell to chopping again. The opening
in the wall was not quite wide enough up and down for his body. He
enlarged it by cutting away at the lower side. Finally, satisfied with
its size, he unpinned the shoulder blanket, freed his feet, and crawled
through.
And now Dallas looked round, fastening her eyes upon the dark hole
beyond the hearth. Beside it, the lantern burned with a sickly flame.
"It's murder! It's murder! It's _murder_!" she breathed.
Marylyn tossed, moaning. Dallas ran to her. There she stayed, eyes and
ears buried in the bed-clothes.
Within the lean-to, a curious parley was being held. Lancaster was
standing, hatchet in hand, at the bar of Simon's pen. Behind him was the
stable door, before him, just out of reach, the bull. Simon was not
pawing now. His fore feet were spread wide, his nose touched the ground
between them. He was alternately mooing and blowing, and his angry eyes
were fixed, not on the section-boss, but on the bottom of the door.
"Simon, Simon," said Lancaster, in a wheedling tone. He could scarcely
see the animal, for the eastern window was snowed shut. The bull made no
move. Presently, the old man shoved the single bar aside and hopped
forward a step or two, his gaze fixed on the star between those glowing
eyes.
Still the bull did not move.
"So, Simon," purred the section-boss. He gave another hop forward, and
raised the hatchet. "So, Simon, nice Simon!"
"_Wo-o-o-ah!_"
It was a roar that fairly shook the lean-to. Simon flung up his head.
Fearful for his safety, Lancaster dodged to the left, stumbled,
overturned, and went down with a cry. "Dallas--help!"
A cry answered him. The mules reared. Then, out of the gloom plunged a
red bulk, head lowered, tail straight. There was a second roar, a crash,
as the stable door flew outward, an in-rush of frigid air, and the
swirling sound of wind and sleet. And Simon, leaping something that was
lying at the entrance, shot on into the blizzard.
* * * * *
Early morning of the next day, as the Lancasters were enjoying a
breakfast of roasted pork, cooked by a scantling of Simon's manger, they
heard the storm renew its fury in strange noises that were like the
human voice. The warped door creaked, the latch rattled.
They paid little attention to it, being fairly content with the strange
good fortune that had left a fat frozen pig in the snow outside the
lean-to. The stable had been nailed tight again, and there were enough
scantlings in it to last out three or four days. Marylyn was better,
having rallied swiftly on a diet of rich broth. Even Ben and Betty were
not unhappy, for they were greedily consuming the hay of the bedticks.
"Sam Patch's shore bustin' loose," observed the section-boss, selecting
a second juicy rib and salting it from end to end. The salt spilled. He
flickered a pinch over one shoulder.
_Boof!_ _boof!_ _boof!_ _bang!_ came the muffled sounds from without.
"The harder it howls now the sooner it'll get over it," answered Dallas,
piling on more wood.
Lancaster lit his pipe. "Danged glad Ah got t'baccy."
_Hey! hey!_ yelled the storm.
Marylyn looked up from a book. "Sounds as if men are outside," she said.
"Listen!"
They listened, straining their ears.
Something thumped the warped door. They started up. A moment, and a
thread of light came through the gap above the latch.
"They is!" cried the section-boss.
A cheer replied. A sharp command was sung out to them. "Keep back! Out
of the way!"
Again the door was thumped; then great pressure was put upon it. It
opened, letting in a half-dozen men and a wide path of warm sunlight.
"Hurrah! hurrah!" "Folks, you snowed in?" "Thank God, you're all right."
"The basket, boys, the basket."
"W'y, Lawd!" cried the section-boss, winking against the light; "ain't
they no blizzard?"
A trooper with a chevroned sleeve saluted them. His air was jaunty. His
face beamed. "There _was_, sir, last night," he said gaily, "but there
hain't none now. Clear has ha bell, sir."
"Y' fr'm th' Post?" demanded Lancaster, trying to look severe.
He of the chevrons waved his companions out. "Hi'm from Hingland, sir,"
he answered. "Sergeant Kippis his my name. Will you 'ave some 'soldier's
coffee,' sir?"
Dallas hurried past him and into the newly dug tunnel. Overhead was a
serene sky. Between shack and river lay a dazzling mile of drifts. And
midway, brisket deep, but advancing resolutely, and bugling at every
floundering step, was Simon!